Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has decided to not procure bitumen from Andhra Pradesh in order to save Rs 60 crore on State Goods and Services Tax (SGST). The Telangana state government annually spends about Rs 500 crore on the maintenance of roads within the limits of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). It procures bitumen for the works from the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) refinery in Visakhapatnam, for which it pays nine per cent SGST, which amounts to about Rs 60 crore per annum.
According to highly-placed sources, engineers from various government departments and Bonthu Rammohan, the Mayor of the city, recently visited the BPCL head office in Mumbai and asked officials to supply them bitumen from the refinery in Miyapur instead. BPCL officials explained the benefits of using modified bitumen, and how it produced more durable roads. They also suggested that crumb rubber-modified bitumen and polymer-modified bitumen would be better suited for city roads and agreed to supply those varieties of bitumen from the refinery in Hyderabad.
Bitumen that is used to lay roads has to be maintained at a particular temperature. A senior GHMC official, on condition of anonymity, said that after conducting various studies they had come to the conclusion that the efficacy and quality of bitumen were reduced during its transport from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad. He said that poor quality of bitumen was causing roads to become damaged more quickly, creating problems for commuters. The official said that the state government felt that there was no need to pay nine per cent SGST to AP when there is a BPCL refinery in Hyderabad.
He said that Rs 750 crore was earmarked for the development of roads in the 2018-19 financial year, and about Rs 100 crore of that would have to be paid to AP as SGST if bitumen is procured from there. He added that the refinery in Hyderabad would be expanded in the future, based on the state’s needs. Mayor Bonthu Rammohan said that the standard and quality of GHMC roads would definitely improve in the near future. He said that the suggestions provided by BPCL officials would be the solution to the problem of bad roads.
